Falling Leaves
by Kyuujin
Summary: Falling Leaves is a collection of canon-compliant oneshots, ranging from romance to action, from drama to suspense, and everything in between. All manner of characters will make an appearance, so if you don't see your favorite character yet, they will probably be there soon. No filler characters, unless stated otherwise, however.


Hey guys, I'm Kyuujin. So this is gonna be a series of one shots that could all possibly happen in the canon. These stories are gonna range from romance, to action, all sorts of genres.

We start with a sparring scene involving the young Sannin and the White Fang of Konoha, Hatake Sakumo. Sakumo was said to be more well-known than the Sannin, so I'm taking a few liberties with his character. I hope you enjoy!

Also, I do not own NARUTO, Masashi Kishimoto does.

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"Come on, princess, one date is all I'm asking for!"

Three Konohagakure jonin made their way over the wooden bridge that lead into the Forty-Fourth training grounds. One was a tall, white-haired young man, with markings underneath his eyes and a small wart on the side of his nose. He was fawning over the only woman of the team, a blonde with an impressive bust and a scowl on her face as she regarded the white haired man. Walking a bit ahead of them without sparing a backward glance, was a man of porcelain white skin and flowing ebony hair. His eyes were the eyes of a snake, and he had an unsettling aura about him. These three were the Sannin, three incredibly strong shinobi of the Leaf. They did not know it yet, but they would become legends.

The woman was Tsunade, an accomplished medic and the granddaughter of the first Hokage himself, Senju Hashirama. She could summon the Princess of Slugs, Katsuyu, and increase her strength drastically.

The taller, white haired man was Jiraiya. He was a disciple of the Toads of Mount Myobokuzan, and well versed in Katon ninjutsu. He could summon any toad of his choosing, but had a tendency to call upon Gamabunta, nicknamed "Boss Toad."

The final man was Orochimaru. He was a master of an almost endless number of techniques, being completely obsessed with learning all the techniques a shinobi could learn. He summoned Manda, the king of the Snakes, and a very volatile beast.

"I said no, BAKA!"

Tsunade landed a good wallop on the back of Jiraiya's head, all but flooring him. Orochimaru closed his eyes in annoyance and finally turned to look back at his two teammates.

"Stop goofing off and hurry up. He agreed to train with us, he won't wait long."

"You're absolutely right, Orochimaru. A Shinobi must never be late."

The three looked up to see a single man with silky white hair standing on the large Shinto gate on the end of the bridge. He was dressed in the typical jonin attire and had a single extra sleeve on his left shoulder, white with a red triangle pattern on the bottom. On his back was a tanto short sword, known throughout Konoha as the White Chakra Sabre, the sacred weapon of his family, passed down from father to son. This man was a legend, his name known even more so than the Sannin. He was the White Fang of Konoha.

He was Hatake Sakumo.

He smirked down at the three, a single eyebrow raised. "Thought you three would never show up. And here I am, offering my services to train you-" He was interrupted by a flurry of snakes coming out of Orochimaru's sleeve. His smirk vanished and his expression became one of intense concentration. He was in battle mode, and a simple sparring match would prove to be more intense than any these three had had before.

He dropped from the gate, dodging the snakes by inches as he formed the Ram/Hitsuji seal. "Shunshin no Jutsu!" He vanished in a puff of smoke, appearing in the center of the three shinobi. He let out a low sweeping kick, knocking Jiraiya and Tsunade from their feet. Orochimaru managed to dodge however, and before Sakumo could attack further, the serpentine man shot snakes at them, using the reptiles like ropes and pulling them away from the legend that had been about to bat them around like training dummies.

Sakumo formed more seals, ending with the Serpent/Hebi seal. It was formed by clenching your fists together, and it was the sign for Doton ninjutsu. "Doton: Doryuheki!" He created a wall made of earth and stone, literally milliseconds prior to Jiraiya completing his own series of seals. "Katon: Endan!" He shot a huge bullet of fire from his mouth that rocketed through the air and slammed into the wall. The stone had gotten a bit warm, but other than that, it completely withstood the fire element.

_That was most likely a distraction,_ Sakumo thought to himself. _Their teamwork is supposed to be incredible. That means Tsunade should show up right about..._

"Tsutenkyaku!" He looked up to see the kunoichi in question above him, falling down rapidly toward him with her leg stretched high. Her famous Heavenly Kick of Pain. Sakumo's incredible hearing picked up the sounds of hissing and slithering behind him. Orochimaru was boxing him in. His wall was in front of him, snakes behind him, and Tsunade above. Left him with one option.

Sakumo weaved through a string of hand seals and ended with the seal for Shadow Clone technique. "Bunshin Daibakuuha!" A clone appeared from a burst of smoke and launched itself at Tsunade, taking her kick literally head-on. The clone dispersed with a huge outward explosion that sent her flying backwards, her leg covered in burns and wounds. She had lost her right sandal and part of her right pant sleeve. Jiraiya leaped up to catch the falling princess while Sakumo spun around to deal with the snakes behind him.

Orochimaru appeared out of the mouth of the largest snake, brandishing a blade in his right hand. The White Fang's eyes widened in surprise. _That's the Kusanagi blade! Orochimaru... when did you find that?_ He drew his White Chakra Sabre and blocked Orochimaru's downward slash expertly, locking eyes with the man as he did so.

"So... you found the Sword of Kusanagi did you? I take it Hiruzen-san doesn't know about it."

Orochimaru remained silent at this, merely grinning and releasing an unbelievable amount of killing intent. Sakumo chuckled and twisted his wrist, deftly batting Orochimaru's sword away and leaping backwards, standing on top of the earth wall he created. He looked over his shoulder. Tsunade was back on her feet, having already healed herself. He smirked back at Orochimaru, who used his momentary distraction to cross the distance between them, and was less than a foot away, once again holding the sword. Sakumo leaned backward, falling headfirst off of the wall and flipping land on his feet. He jumped back in time to dodge Orochimaru's downward strike, backing toward Tsunade and Jiraiya. With him standing between them and Orochimaru, they didn't dare throw any kunai or ninjutsu, just in case he dodged them. Tsunade rushed forward while Jiraiya began flipping through seals.

Sakumo performed a picture-esque backflip over Tsunade, landing just in time for Jiraiya to finish his jutsu. "Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi! Bring Down the House Jutsu!" A large toad slammed down on top of Sakumo, throwing up a cloud of dust. Then all was quiet.

"GYAAAHHHH?! DID I JUST KILL HATAKE SAKUMO?!" Tsunade stared wide-eyed at him while Orochimaru's eyes scanned the battlefield, ignoring the bickering that started up between Tsunade and Jiraiya. His eyes widened suddenly. "Below, you fools!" A pair of gloved hands shot out of the ground and wrapped around Jiraiya's ankles. With a swift, decisive yank, the Sannin was pulled down into the ground, buried up to his neck in dirt. Sakumo appeared in a cloud of smoke, a small hole at his feet. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest and he was laughing at the Sannin. Jiraiya gave him a death glare while Tsunade and Orochimaru readied themselves for more combat. Slowly, his laughter died. "Well that was a fun warm-up. Are we ready to begin?"

Orochimaru answered him with a shout. "Fuuton: Daitoppa!" A huge burst of wind flew at the Hatake at an extreme speed, whipping past Jiraiya who gritted his teeth and emitted a small grunt of pain. The wind batted Sakumo backward into the small forest behind him, just in time for Tsunade to appear behind him in a puff of smoke. She aimed a powerful kick at his back, feeling his spine snap and crack beneath her shin.

Then, he exploded in a blast of smoke.

"Dammit, a Kage Bunshin!" She began looking around for any sign of movement amongst the trees. She heard the sounds of rushing chakra behind her and spun around in time to see Sakumo with his arm raised to the sky. Floating above his hand was a huge spear of lightning. He gave her a dangerous look. "You don't have anything to help you against Raiton, do you? You'd better hope Orochimaru shows up. Raiton: Gian! Lightning Style: False Darkness!" The bolt rocketed at her as she stood helpless to defend herself when two voices rang out on either side of her.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa!"

"Katon: Endan!"

The now-freed Jiraiya's Katon combined with Orochimaru's Fuuton, creating a powerful inferno that launched past Tsunade and slammed into Gian. The two jutsu battled for a few seconds before the blazing inferno tore through Gian. Sakumo had already vacated where he'd been standing, but the resulting explosion was hard to escape from. The shockwave caused by the combination technique knocked Sakumo off balance, throwing him to the ground. He sat up in time for Tsunade to point a kunai between his eyes. He smirked up at her for a few seconds.

"You three really live up to your teamwork. Jiraiya, don't let yourself get so distracted, if I wanted, instead of pulling you into the ground I could have killed you. Orochimaru, a Leaf Shinobi never endangers their teammate, especially not with their own technique. Tsunade, you're a strong kunoichi. Don't let Jiraiya and Orochimaru rescue you again. You're more than capable. Finally, all three of you..."

"Need to see through deception better." Tsunade swore and quickly destroyed the genjutsu the three of them were in. _When did he-?!_ When they all turned around, Sakumo and two clones had a White Chakra Sabre pressed against all of their throats. Sakumo released the clones and sheathed the sword with a kind grin.

"All in all, though... not bad."

"It's not over!" Orochimaru was not about to admit he was defeated. He began forming seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" He slammed his hand into the ground. "Ninja Art Summoning: Sea of Snakes!" From his palm came a huge amount of snakes, all rushing toward Sakumo. He deftly took to the trees before they could strike him. After some trepidation, Jiraiya and Tsunade followed suit.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Jiraiya summoned a toad that was around 15 feet in height. Tsunade summoned a slug of equal size. The Toad Sannin attacked first. "Katon: Gamayu Endan! Fire Style: Toad Oil Flame Bomb!" The toad spurt a blast of oil in his direction. However, before Jiraiya could combine it with fire, Tsunade performed a technique as well. "Zesshi Nensan! Acid Slime!" Her slug spurt a blast of sticky acid from its mouth, combining it with the oil. Jiraiya finished the combo with a stream of fire, igniting the acidic, scalding liquid. Sakumo flipped through his own set of seals.

"My turn. Ninja Art! Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" He slammed his hands into the ground, a cloud of smoke obscuring view. The flames shot into the cloud, appearing to completely melt Sakumo. Instead, when the smoke cleared, the flames were being guzzled by a gigantic wolf, twice the size of their summons. Two more wolves, so incredibly speedy that they appeared as a gray and a brown blur, were also summoned, zipping through the field of snakes and killing them one by one. The twin wolves both held Katanas in their mouths that instantly severed the heads of any snake that crossed their path. The large wolf finally finished eating the flames and emitted a loud burp.

"Oh. Hey, Sakumo-kun. Whadja call me fer?" Sakumo chuckled. "To eat that fire attack, obviously. I'm dealing with the Sannin." The wolf yawned. "Oh yeah, those Leaf upstarts. What did they do, summon something?" "Yeah, two somethings." The twin wolves finally stopped moving, landing on either side of Sakumo.

"Snakes are-"

"-dead boss."

Sakumo patted them both between the ears and leveled a steely gaze at the Sannin, who looked like they were still raring to go. "I hope you learned something today," he spoke. "No matter how far your legend spreads, and how well your team works together, if you are facing a stronger opponent, it's better to escape. Most shinobi will die in the line of duty, which is how a shinobi should die. But you three are special. You are weapons that must be utilized by the village, same as me. Remember that truth." Orochimaru growled and regurgitated the Sword of Kusanagi. "Quiet, fool!" He rushed at Sakumo, who blocked the sword with his own. Orochimaru recovered from the recoil rapidly, swinging the sword in a falling, wide arc. Sakumo jumped back, the front of his flak jacket getting nicked by the tip of the blade. A small cut opened up on the garment. Jiraiya made use of the opening, rocketing forward with decent speed. They quickly engaged in a Taijutsu battle, Jiraiya forcing Sakumo to stay on the defense. Orochimaru zipped behind Sakumo, aiming a kick at the small of his back. It connected, sending Sakumo tumbling forward and into, Tsunade's waiting grip. She grabbed him by the front of the vest and lifted him into the air. "Looks like we won, Sakumo-san."

He chuckled. "Not just yet. But that was a nice combo. Oh, and you might want to look down." Jiraiya, being the only one who fell for it, looked down immediately as a flash bomb and smoke bomb went off above them. A strong kick connected with Tsunade's ribs and she dropped the Hatake as he retreated before any of them could begin their counter attack. He rapidly traversed through the forest, slipping behind a tree and plopping onto the ground with a sigh. They were working him out more than he'd expected.

He poked two fingers into the grass, utilizing a basic sensory technique. He was alerted to their presence through the vibrations caused with their steps. They were heading toward him, two on the ground and one trying to ambush him by approaching within the trees. Sakumo looked over his shoulder and left his hiding spot, sprinting toward the two on the ground. _Jiraiya and Tsunade. Of course, Orochimaru would never agree to be the distraction. _He jumped, leaping over the Toad and Slug Sannin and landing on a branch, facing the Snake Sannin. Orochimaru dashed at him, sword drawn. Sakumo performed a set of seals. This will probably be my last jutsu, I've used up a lot of chakra in this fight. Well, time for a repeat performance.

One hand flung explosive-tagged kunai at the three of them, the other formed another Raiton: Gian. He launched the bolt at the explosive tag, leveling a section of forest with the resulting explosion.

When the smoke cleared, Tsunade had been covered by Jiraiya, whose flak jacket was gone and the back of his shirt torn open, several burns on his back as his unconscious form lay across Tsunade. Tsunade had little wounds from the attack, and Orochimaru was covered in bruises and burns. They were sitting in a small crater, Sakumo sitting nonchalantly on a tree limb.

"Class dismissed."


End file.
